Duel Match Stats/Reports - Federer vs Djokovic, Shanghai semi-finals, 2010 & 2014

[Waspsting]

Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the Shanghai semi-final, 2010

Federer would go onto lose the final to Andy Murray. Djokovic had recently beaten Federer in the US Open semi-final

Federer won 79 points, Djokovic 69

Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (45/73) 62%
- 1st serve points won (34/45) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (15/28) 54%
- Aces 7
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/73) 22%

Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (48/75) 64%
- 1st serve points won (30/48) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (15/27) 56%
- Aces 5 (1 second serve, 1 not clean)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (14/75) 19%

Serve Patterns
Federer served...
- to FH 41%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 4%

Djokovic served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 55%
- to Body 3%

Return Stats
Federer made...
- 57 (27 FH, 30 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (1 FH, 4 BH)
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (57/71) 80%

Djokovic made...
- 54 (24 FH, 30 BH)
- 4 Winners (3 FH, 1 BH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 5 Unforced (4 FH, 1 BH)
- 4 Forced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (54/70) 77%

Break Points
Federer 3/4 (3 games)
Djokovic 1/5 (2 games)

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Federer 22 (14 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 4 OH)
Djokovic 16 (6 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Federer's FHs - 3 cc (1 return), 3 dtl, 5 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-in, 1 longline and 1 drop shot
- BHs - 1 cc and 1 dtl pass

- 1 OH was on the bounce from behind service line and has not been counted a net point

Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc returns, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in and 1 drop shot at net
- BHs - 1 cc and 5 dtl (1 return, 1 pass)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Federer 36
- 21 Unforced (11 FH, 10 BH)
- 15 Forced (7 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 41.9

Djokovic 37
- 25 Unforced (12 FH, 13 BH)
- 12 Forced (3 FH, 9 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 47.6

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Federer was...
- 11/14 (79%) at net, with...
- 1/1 retreated

Djokovic was...
- 10/12 (83%) at net

Match Report
Straight, ball-bashing shoot out on a fast court - Tweedle Dee vs Tweedle Dum. Chance and Fed sticking to the script a touch more decides a close contest on a fast court

Serve & Return
Neither player hit spots with their serves. Just straight power serving in returners swing zone, hence the low unreturned rates of 22% and 19%. Its quick enough court that even that type of serving could be significantly damaging and good returning is required to cope

Fed's a touch better at throwing out wide serves, but not by much. Overwhelming bulk of serves are conservatively placed

Both players succeed in returning firmly, which is enough to do damage

On the return, Djoko is the more damaging, occasionally hammering a return wide. Even slightly wide, firmly struck returns are a handful and few such force errors. Note the 4 winners. 3 are FH cc's from deuce court - the exact same return he famously nailed down match point in '11 US Open semi. Fed hits 1 just like it too

I would think Federer was capable of doing a lot more with the serve in terms of placement and so, he chose to serve this way? Serving wide on this court, he's quite capable of having near 40% unreturned serves. Doesn't try. It might have been beyond Djoko's capacity during the period to hit spots

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Ball bashing. Both players indulge. Hard hit regulation groundstrokes of both sides, not placed to sides. Blunt cc angles, a small number of near longline exchanges right down middle of court

Not pretty stuff

Court is quick enough that such play tends to draw errors fairly quickly. And slightly wide balls are enough to force errors

Fed's superior shot making is the main difference. He has 14 FH winners alone (Djoko has 16 total), 22 overall and misses just 2 winner attempts. Djoko misses 5

Fed shows a slight preference for playing FHs. Djoko shows none - and no attempt to shift things to more BH play

Consistency is a wash - between the players and across wings. Of FH UEs, Fed has 11, Djoko 12. On the BH, its Fed 10, Djoko 13

Note Fed's extremely low UEFI of 41.9 which suggests passive play. That's not quite accurate. First, he barely misses an attacking shot, so all the balls he does miss tend to be neutral. Second, his neutral shots are deep and hard hit... they're not exactly 'neutral' but closer to it than 'attacking'. Finally, he has a rare defensive UE, which tends to pull down the overall score when total UEs aren't high

Djoko's by contrast is 47.6. Breakdown of UEs -
- Defensive - Fed 1, Djoko 0
- Neutral - Fed 16, Djoko 11
- Attacking Fed 2, Djoko 9
- Winner attempts - Fed 2, Djoko 5

Basically, Fed's regulation shots are strong enough that they'd draw errors sooner rather than later and when he does move to attack, he finishes the point
Djoko's regulation shots are equally strong though. He's less efficient in attack though

Both players defend ably as can, Federer perhaps slightly better. With closed-ish court play, footwork takes on more importance than footspeed and the former is an area where Fed has an advantage. Nonethless, there's not much in it of footspeed/court coverage either. Djoko does hit more mildly attacking shots - placed a bit wide - and Fed's able to get those balls back. Had he not, balance of play would likely have shifted Djoko's way

Note excellent net numbers for both - Fed winning 79%, Djoko 83% and both coming in rarely. Approaches do most of the work and a couple of excellent passes from Djoko force volleying errors

Fed with small advantage in play - but its very small. As tends to happen on quick courts when two players play well, its more a point-here, point there match than who-was-the-better-player deal... especially in light of serve-return complex being about equal too

Match Progression
Fed saves 4 break points in holding an 18 point game, just after Djoko holds a 12 point one without facing break point. Play is based around ball bashing, Djoko throwing in the odd BH dtl attacking shot (usually missing)

Fed breaks near at 5-5. 3 bad shots from Djoko seal it - first, a bad choice drop shot, which brings Fed to net to force an error and then 2 BH errors

In second set, play changes just a bit. Djoko strains a bit more. While he'd played naturally in is quality ball bashing style, now he's looking to hit harder or wider and makes more errors for it. Fed serves a bit better, hitting his spots more

Good game by Fed to break in game 1. There is an unfortunate call in the game when a Djoko second serve, service winner is called out and then again so the point has to be replayed. Djoko goes on to double. Players exchange breaks in middle of set - the returner in both games hitting fine shots, with a couple of routine errors from the server thrown in

Fed nurses his break through to the end

Summing up, hard hitting match without much subtlety. Ordinary serving but very good returning, especially from Djokovic. Federer with a small advantage in play, being the more efficient in attack

Stats for their previous match, 2010 US Open semi - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ic-vs-federer-us-open-semi-final-2010.655222/
Stats for their next match, 2010 Basel final - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...-vs-djokovic-basel-indoors-final-2010.661914/

 

[Waspsting]

In 2014, Federer beat Djokovic 6-4, 6-4 in the semi-final

Federer would go onto beat Gilles Simon in the final to win his first title at the event. Djokovic had won the previous 2 editions

Federer 80 won points, Djokovic 69

Serve Stats
Federer...
- 1st serve percentage (51/72) 71%
- 1st serve points won (35/51) 69%
- 2nd serve points won (13/21) 62%
- Aces 8 (1 not clean)
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (18/72) 25%

Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (53/77) 69%
- 1st serve points won (32/53) 60%
- 2nd serve points won (13/24) 54%
- Aces 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (16/77) 21%

Serve Patterns
Federer served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 7%

Djokovic served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 56%
- to Body 5%

Return Stats
Federer made...
- 61 (23 FH, 38 BH), including 8 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (2 FH, 5 BH)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (61/77) 79%

Djokovic made...
- 53 (24 FH, 29 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 10 Errors, comprising...
- 1 Unforced (1 BH)
- 9 Forced (4 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (53/71) 75%

Break Points
Federer 2/10 (4 games)
Djokovic 0/1

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Federer 25 (10 FH, 4 FHV, 6 BHV, 5 OH)
Djokovic 23 (10 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 3 OH)

Federer's FHs - 1 cc, 3 dtl (1 return), 3 inside-out, 2 inside-out/dtl and 1 inside-in

- 5 from serve-volley points -
- 4 first volleys (1 FHV, 3 BHV)
- 1 second volley (1 FHV)

- 2 from return-approach points (2 BHV)

Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc (2 passes - 1 at net, a net chord pop over), 1 dtl, 4 inside-out (2 passes, 1 at net), 1 inside-in and 1 longline pass (that hit Federer)
- BHs - 3 cc (2 passes), 2 dtl (1 pass at net), 1 dtl/inside-out and 1 inside-out pass

- 1 from serve-volley point, a first volley BHV

- 2 OHs on bounce from baseline - 1 from a return-approach point (forced back)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Federer 29
- 15 Unforced (9 FH, 6 BH)
- 14 Forced (6 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 3 BHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.3

Djokovic 37
- 24 Unforced (16 FH, 8 BH)... with 1 BH at net
- 13 Forced (6 FH, 6 BH, 1 FHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.4

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Federer was...
- 23/41 (56%) at net, including...
- 9/14 (64%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 8/12 (67%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
--
- 3/8 (38%) return-approaching
- 0/2 forced back/retreated

Djokovic was...
- 15/18 (83%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
--
- 1/1 return-approaching
- 2/2 forced back

Match Report
Top class from Federer as he attacks and relentlessly pressures Djokovic from both baseline and net. Djokovic himself is near top form but its a little too much for him. Court is on fast side for hard, probably slower than 2010

Its Fed net plays that takes the eye. He's at net 41 times -12 times from serve-volleys (2 of them off second serves), 8 from chip-charge returns and 19 times from rallies - that's 27.5% of all points in the match (in 2010 the figure was 9.5%). While that keeps Djoko under constant pressure and unable to get into a hitting groove, its not actually what wins Fed the match. He wins 56% of net points, which is on the low side (Djoko wins 83%, coming in about half as much). Fed also outplays Djoko from the baseline

Federer's Game
From baseline, Fed has 15 UEs to Djoko's 24. In fact, Fed does better off both wings - on FH, he has 9 to Djoko's 16 and on the BH, he has 6 to Djoko's 8. Remarkably, Fed has 1 fewer total UE than Djoko has FH UEs(!)

If that's not enough, have a look at Fed's very high UEFI of 49.3. Basically, he's playing very attacking tennis, but barely making an error - while coming to net regularly to redouble the attack still. If that's not enough, he serves very impressively - both first and second serves - its only outstanding returning from Djoko to keep unreturned rate down to moderate 25%. There's no comparison with the 2010 match... this is a much, much better serving showing from Fed

And to top it off, 79% return rate. This is good but short of great. Djoko's serve, though also better placed than in 2010, remains quite returnable

Djokovic's Game
Improved serving from Djoko too, especially of variety and on the second serve. He belts the odd serve down, throws in a few heavy kickers and goes for the 'T' successfully with a small number of second serves

First serve still isn't too dangerous and most balls are within reach. Note 7/10 Fed return errors marked unforced - compared to just 1/10 for Djoko

Those figures say as much about the returns as the serve. Djokovic is superb on the second shot. He faces a large number of fast, wide serves and not only puts them back in play, but usually with depth and decent pace. He isn't allowed to take charge of points with the return because Fed's serves are too good. Typically, even second serves require some sideways movement to reach

Djoko's kept busy playing passing shots. Note Fed with just 56% net points won and without a single volleying UE, though he has 4 forced ones. He doesn't fail to put makeable passes in play, forcing Fed to make the volley, and blazes a fair few by - including a couple from off balance, defensive positions. And in one case, through rather than by, when he hits Fed with a FH longline pass. Good defensive lobbing too, forcing Fed away twice

Its Fed who forces action from the back. He's apt to hit mildly attacking shots from regulation positions via wider angles more than power - and court is quick enough for this to be effective - that turns most baseline points edgy. Sometimes he comes in, sometimes he doens't... but threat of it is always there from such situations. In that context, Djoko is forced to play a harried game from the back too. His FH does break down, especially in second set, but I'd more credit Fed for implementing the dynamic then discredit Djoko

It isn't til middle of second set that Djoko starts taking net - which is not only aggresive, but keeps Fed from doing so. He'd only been forward twice in first set and 3 times more after first 4 games of the second. Remaining 13 approaches occur in the last 6 games.

For Djoko, the approach does most of the work, though he volleys as needed. Just 1 error and it was forced, while he has 5 forecourt winners
Fed by contrast, had utilized a combination of coming in off strong approaches, manufacturing an approach, quick dashes to net from regulation position. The only thing he's shy on is coming in off short balls - which he prefers to whack with FHs - which proves, if anything, even more successful

Fed's volleying gets better as match goes on. Initially, he dumps a few near Djokovic, allowing a good shot at the pass. Later, he volleys more decisively, particularly short angled shots

Relative to 2010 -

- its noticable Fed's movements are significantly slower and that Djoko is faster of court coverage. At least, as far as running side to side goes... coming forward, Fed's up in a flash but there isn't much to compare against from 2010 on that front

- baseline action is less hard hitting and powerful, though there's still an element of closed-ish court action. Fed tends to open it slightly with more angled shots from regulation positions or comes in off such shots, or builds up to opening it fully. Great moderate attacking stuff from Fed. Fed 'check's his BH more... taking half-swings. Slices a fair bit, but they're very effective, clinging to the ground under knee high. Should probably have done it more, though its more a FH based match. 0 BH winners from Fed, but also match low 6 UEs (next lowest is Djoko's 8 BHs)

Match Progression
FH errors from Djoko lead to the only break of the first set. Federer comes to net on both break points - he's passed FH inside-out first time and draws a BH error on the second to move ahead 3-2. Djoko has his only break point the following game on back of couple of strong passes, but Fed holds

Fed holds game 7 with 4 aces in 47 seconds

Fed breaks to start the second set. Djoko misses a very easy BH dtl at net in the game, and on break point, Fed hits a glorious FH cc - FH dtl/inside-out 1-2 ending with a winner

Djoko's FH starts breaking down. It'd been fairly error prone earlier too, but now regularly yields errors. Between that and Fed's net play, Djoko remains constantly under the gun. He survives 12 point (4 break points), 10 point and 12 point (2 break points) game holds. Its not all one way traffic though. Fed holds a 16 point game, albeit, without facing break point. How often do you see a game that long without a break point

Good move from Djoko to come to net more, where he's very successful. Generally speaking, he's so often in command from baseline that finishing at net would be both efficient and not even require great volleying skills. Something he's under-utilized in his career

Fed serves out the match, finishing appropriately with a BHV winner

Summing up, great performance from Federer, with all aspects of his game clicking. The combination of shotmaking and moderate attacking shots from the back from neutral position + regular trips to net is almost irresistible and he doesn't even give away cheap points trying. Djoko does his best immovable object bit - and does it well with excellent passing - but ends up being moved